Virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) environments have been around for a number of years. VR or AR may refer to simulated environments featuring computer graphics that a user can interact with in a way that is more immersive than merely watching a television or computer screen. Past VR environments have included large pod-like or cockpit-like stations, where a user would sit down inside the station and be able to interact with a panoramic graphical interface that represented some 3-dimensional world. The user would typically utilize some external set of controllers, such as a joystick or interactive glove, in order to move around in the VR environment.
Other implementations of VR have included VR goggles, which are head-mounted devices that a user only needs to wear over her eyes. The user can then see the equivalent of a panoramic view that she could have seen in the immersive, pod-like stations, but the goggles enable the user to be more mobile and does not require such a large hardware implementation. The user may manipulate the environment seen through the goggles by using some external device, like a joystick or some other controller.
AR implementations attempt to blend computer graphics and other images with a user's actual surroundings, such that the user may perceive that his surroundings have been augmented. To achieve this, AR goggles that the user may wear typically provide transparent or substantially transparent lenses, so that the user can still see his actual surroundings while viewing other objects at the same time. Companies such as Lumus Ltd. have developed technologies that can project light images into a user's pupils while still enabling the user to view his surroundings. Technologies in AR have promise to greatly enhance a user's living experience. It is therefore desirable to create systems and methods that improve AR technology.